Leadership at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which
represents the majority of Hostess employees, have asked their
membership to authorize a potential strike if the judge grants
the company's request, according to a memo sent to us by a
current employee.

Hostess management have said that replacing the current employee
contracts with new cheaper ones is the only way that the battered
company will be able to come out of bankruptcy. But union
officials are calling Hostess's demands — which include a
five-year wage freeze and scrapping employer contributions to
health and pension plans — unreasonable, according to the
memo.

This latest development does not bode well for the future of this
once-iconic company, best known for Twinkies and Wonder Bread.
Management claims they need these concessions to cut labor costs,
but if the court approves the new contracts and employees go on
strike, replacing employees would create a whole new set of costs
in order to continue operations.

Union officials acknowledge this tension in the memo, writing
that a strike "would almost certainly put Hostess Brands out of
business and cost thousands of jobs."

This whole debacle just goes to show that managers have to act
carefully when trying to force less-than-desirable contracts on
their employees.